Electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) have been widely used for many decades to remove dust particles from process gases such as exhaust gases from combustion processes. One example of an ESP is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,442.
One problem associated with ESPs is so-called back-corona effects, i.e. that the resistivity of a layer of already collected dust particles on an electrode causes a drop in a generated electric field which may reintroduce collected particles into the process gas.